ROUNDUP 2: Apple wants to keep the competition at bay with the new M2 chip

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CUPERTINO (dpa-AFX) – Seven years after the market launch of the Apple Watch, customers of the iPhone group still have to wait for the launch of a major new product category. It is an open secret in California’s Silicon Valley that Apple is working on an epoch-making project, namely its own glasses for virtual and augmented reality. Despite this, Apple CEO Tim Cook never once uttered the words “Virtual Reality” (VR) or “Augmented Reality” (AR) in his keynote speech at the WWDC developer conference on Whit Monday.

Instead, at the start of WWDC, Cook and his team presented a whole range of further developments and improvements to improve the already very successful Apple products a little further. In addition, the US company announced a new processor for its new Mac computers. Apple launched its first computer chip, the M1, two years ago, turning its back on Intel, the main supplier at the time.

The M1 success story is to be continued with the new generations of the Macbook Air and Macbook Pro laptops with the M2 processor. The M2 chip system is said to offer more power than Apple’s first M1 chip with the same power consumption. Among other things, the M2 has a quarter more transistors, emphasized Apple technology chief Johny Srouji.

On the iPhone brings the new operating system iOS 16 include more options for personalizing the lock screen with so-called widgets for functions such as displaying the weather forecast. Smartphones running the Google (Alphabet C (ex Google)) Android operating system have long been able to display widgets on the lock screen. Apple will also provide developers with a live interface that can show the arrival time of a ride, for example, or the status of a game on the lock screen in real time.

In Apple’s SMS alternative messages, messages can be corrected and withdrawn for a while. In future, routes with up to 15 stops can be planned in the map app. Apps can in future integrate images from Apple’s “Look Around” street views – which will benefit real estate applications, for example. The Apple Watch will also track sleep stages and remind users to take their medication.

With the new “Freeform” app, Apple wants to offer a kind of digital whiteboard on which several users can share and edit not only text, but also drawings, photos and videos.

Owners of an older iPhone model also benefit from the iOS innovations, because iOS 16 runs on all Apple smartphones from the iPhone 8. However, the older iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 models are then no longer able to run the very latest operating system allow. Despite the cut in software support from six to five years, Apple is doing pretty well compared to the Android competition. Smartphones with the Google operating system are usually no longer available with the latest Android system after three or four years.

However, Apple also made an effort at WWDC to show prospects for success beyond the iPhone and Macintosh computers. Apple is getting more involved in the financial business and will expand its Apple Pay payment system with an installment model. With Apple Pay Later, users – initially only in the US – can split the cost of a purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks with no interest or fees for consumers. Apple collects a fee for this from the credit and debit card issuers involved.

Apple also showed greater ambitions in the automotive sector. Although the mysterious Apple Car is not in sight here either, the company has big plans for its CarPlay car software. Until now, it was there to bring content from an iPhone to the infotainment screen. The upcoming version should now also offer access to car functions such as controlling the air conditioning – and also be able to operate the entire instrument cluster, for example with the speed display.

The first vehicles that use it should be presented at the end of next year, it said. Among the manufacturers that Apple says are participating in the project are Mercedes (Mercedes-Benz Group (ex-Daimler)), Audi and Porsche, as well as Ford (Ford Motor), Renault, Nissan (Nissan Motor) and Volvo, among others. Google has been working for years to offer manufacturers an Android version for vehicle functions in addition to its CarPlay competitor Android Auto.

For Apple, the start of the WWDC 2022 was also a step towards normality after two years of Corona. But the group did not yet dare to welcome more than 5,000 developers in Silicon Valley, as it did in 2019. Only a few hundred developers and a few journalists were allowed to visit the futuristic company headquarters in Cupertino, the Apple Park, after a drawing of lots. Apple reached the masses with a webcast of the recorded event.

All WWDC participants had to wait for Apple data glasses, which have been the subject of speculation for years, regardless of whether they were sitting in the California sun or at home in front of the screen. Recently, expectations were fueled by media information that the group had presented its board members with the prototype of a headset that could combine digital content and images from the environment for the user. However, anyone who listened and looked closely on Whit Monday could see other software modules that Apple can help with such a device. This includes improved voice control and text recognition not only in photos, but also in videos./so/chd/DP/stk